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Announcing VMware Workstation 14

VMware Workstation 14: Pro & Player

It’s about that time, and this year we’re very proud of the advancements we’ve made with our original flagship products, VMware Workstation Pro and Workstation Player.

Once released this October, in addition to supporting Microsoft’s Fall updates for Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016, and updated Linux support for Fedora 26 and Ubuntu 17.04, Workstation 14 Pro will deliver enhanced security with support for Virtualization Based Security (VBS) features of Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows Server 2016 Guests, improved Virtual Networking, and added new support and controls for working with vSphere and the vCenter Server Appliance.

Virtualization Based Security: Device Guard and Credential Guard in a Virtual Machine

The Virtual Hardware Platform also includes support for the latest processors from both Intel and AMD while adding new Virtual Firmware features such as UEFI and Secure Boot.

Along with the existing network speed and packet loss simulator, a new Network Latency Simulator further enables developers to run tests and simulate a specific network environment, including distance and network quality to test application resiliency. This and other advanced networking features will enable administrators to customize the name of virtual network adapters for better organization.

New Remote vSphere Controls

Workstation 14 Pro has added controls when interacting with remote ESXi hosts, directly or through vCenter, with new options for Host Reboot, Shutdown and to toggle Maintenance Mode on ESXi hosts.

Added Host Power + Maintenance Operations

VMware Workstation 14 Player

VMware Workstation 14 Player is a streamlined offering in the Workstation 14 product line, and leverages the same hypervisor technology platform as Workstation 14 Pro. As such, Player gets many of the same benefits of it’s big brother Workstation Pro including performance, bug fixes, and updated hardware and OS support. Like Pro, Player can now also run Windows Virtualization Based Security VMs with Device Guard and Credential Guard, making it useful for delivering compliant corporate desktops in a secure container to end users.

For businesses and enterprises, Workstation Player gives users the power to run restricted VMs that comply with corporate policy. Combined with VBS security features, this commercial solution is designed for businesses looking to run a single, secure, virtual desktop on a corporate or BYO PC.

Workstation 14 Player will also be available for free for personal, non-commercial use.

Customers who purchased VMware Workstation 12.5 Pro or VMware Workstation 12.5 Player between Aug 22 and November 1st, 2017 will receive a free electronic upgrade to VMware Workstation 14 Pro and VMware Workstation 14 Player respectively. No action is required for this free upgrade.

Please see our FAQ

Availability and Pricing VMware Workstation 14 Pro and VMware Workstation 14 Player will be available in early October, from vmware.com for $249.99 and $149.99 respectively.

VMware Workstation 11, 12 and 12.5 customers can upgrade to VMware Workstation 14 Pro for $149.99. VMware Player 7 Pro and VMware Workstation 12 Player customers can upgrade to Workstation 14 Player for $79.99.

Is there any chance that some of the long-standing issues which have caused VMWare Workstation’s decline in popularity may be fixed? Just one example, the absolutely horrible Shared Folders performance issues that got embedded in the product somewhere around version 11. This is the primary reason why I’m still on version 9 – that and the lack of any compelling new features. Oh, and the absurd removal of VM debugging from Visual Studio – the primary reason I use (used to use) the product – what are you guys thinking??

I might pay to upgrade to version 14 if the long-standing shared folder performance issue (complained about but unaddressed for literally years!) is fixed.

FYI, all of these fancy new features VMWare is cramming into Workstation are pretty irrelevant to me (a developer).

Perhaps smoe day you guys will get your act together and implement features like host GPU-passthru instead of slowly choking the product to death with extra garbage, slower performance, and new bugs added with every update.

Thank you for your feedback Dave. We understand you want to see performance improvements to our HGFS and to have GPU passthrough. We hear you. These things are hard, and I apologize that we haven’t yet lived up to your expectations. For a product that is 17 years old, one that indeed created an multi billion dollar industry, making fundamental architecture changes is difficult without impacting our #1 goal which is stability, but these are things we are constantly looking into. Thank you again for your candid feedback, we appreciate it.